Article holder



Mar; 3, 1925. 1,528,744

H. W. DIX

ARTICLE HOLDER Filed Feb 20, 1922 INVENTOR Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

v UNITED STATES HOWARD W. DIX, OF NEW YORK, N, Y.

ARTICLE HOLDER.

Application filed February 20, 1922. Serial. No. 537,716.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, Howl-mi) V. DIX, a citizen of the United States. residing at530 Riverside Drive, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Article Holder, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to holders or racks and more particularly it relates to a wire holder suitably formed to. support a. particular class of. articles. 7'

The main object of the inventionis to provide an improved holder which is particularly adapted to individually support the covers of cooking utensils in accessible though protected positions thus permitting a single cover to be withdrawn without. disturbing the other covers. 7

Another object is to provide a simple holder comprising a plurality of sections that are capable of being joined together without the use of-special apparatus there by allowing anyone to increase or decrease the capacity of the holder by varying the number of sections. 7

A still further object is to providea cover holder whichis capable of being quickly and cheaply manufactured and. which may be folded or nested together for shipping or storage purposes. p

'ects of the invention Willbe ap- Other ob parent from the following detailed description taken. in conjunction with the drawings;

Heretofore covers for cooking utensils and like containers have generally; been piled together in a cupboard or'in. some other inconvenient place which may or' may not be handy to the stove. hen the covers are so piled it is very inconvenient tOWlbhClIELWTOHG without disturbing all of them, and. it is still further inconvenient as the person is not able to readily judge the size of any one of the covers.

Attempts have been made to employhold.- ers or racks made for other purposes for the particular use of. supporting the utensil covers, butv they have not been found to be satisfactory. Some of the adapted holders are so large that they cannot be hung on the wall and must therefore take up floor space unless placed at some inconvenient spot. Others of the adopted holders have no provision for maintaining the covers in position when the holder is jarred or is moved when a cover is withdrawn, and further these holders make no provision for properly supporting covers of large size and for this reason the large covers are continually dropping from the holder.

My invention therefore contemplates an improved holder which positively supports covers of various sizes and types in individual positions. Further, the improved holder is sightly and of small size and may therefore be readily hung on the wall in a convenient position near the stove but still out of danger of interference with persons or cleaning utensils.

A holder selected as embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein: I

Fig. 1 is a front'view of theimproved holder. showing two types of covers supported therein, 7

Fig. 2' is a side view of the holder illus tratedin Fig.1, and

Fig- 3 is a front view of the holder shown in collapsed or folded position.

Referring now to these drawings my selected embodiment consists of a. plurality of sections 1 joined together and held at the top by a supporting member 2 which may be bent topermit the holder or rack tobe supported at a particular place or in a 4 particular position. The sections are preferably made as individual units which are joined together in a desired manner such for instance as by hooks 3 formed in the. free ends of each section. The pro duction of the sections as uni-tspermits a holder to be made up of: a large or small number of sections as the sections are readily joined together without the use of manufacturing machinery. For convenience of shipping and for like purposes it is preferred to construct the holder so that it may be folded or nested as shown in Fig In constructing such a collapsible holder or. rack, I prefer to-make the widths ofthe sections increase from. the topof the holder to the lowermost 3 section thereof as shown. While the holder is shown asbeing. com. posed ofa plurality of joined section capable of being collapsed into a restricted space, without themselves being separated it is desired to be understood that the sec? tions may be supported individually or by all being afiixed to a common supporting member.

The preferred construction of the sections will now be considered. The wire or other flexible material of which the sections are usually made, is bent into U-shape, forming a front portion 4 and a back portion The front portion is generally bent to form an angle with the back portion thus permitting the covers to be easily inserted and with drawn from between these two portions. The size of this angle may vary and when it is desired to support two or more covers in each section the angle is made larger. Each section is adapted to support covers of substantially any size or shape, and it is also constructed so that it will support in very accessible positions, the covers provided wit-h different types of handles such as ring handle 6 and knob handle 7, both being illustrated in Fig. 1. The cover 8 with the ring handle 6 is supported by having its edges in contact with the juncture points 9 and 10 between the front and back portions of a section. Another cover 11 provided with knob handle 7 is supported by top edge 12 of the front portion by having the handle 7 in engagement with the curved part of the top or held in a notch 13 pro vided to positively maintain the handle in normal position, thereby holding the cover in the holder against relatively severe jolting. It is desirable that the top edge 12 be gradually curved downward from the outer edges of portion 4 toward the center as such a curvature permits a cover to be carelessly thrown into a section and toemove, of its own weight or momentum to a position from which it is not easily rolled or brushed out of the holder. When two covers are placed in a single section the outer one usually has its handle 7 in the notch 13, and the inner cover rests on the juncture points 9 and 10, thus the covers resist being rolled out of the holder as one is held in the notch and the second one is protected by the first one.

For the purposes of packing and shipping, the holder is preferred to be of collapsible nature, in order that the minimum amount of space be occupied. To obtain the greatest compactness without straining the wire and without nnhooking the sections, I form bends 14 in the legs of the rear portion 5 and thus permit the legs of any one section to be readily slipped down between the legs of another section.

It is appreciated that modifications may be made in the holder, but any modifications or changes are deemed to be within my invention as outlined in the following claims.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In a rack, a series of sections for holding articles, one of said sections having a part thereof constructed to receive a knob affixed to one of the articles to be supported in the rack to thereby support the article through engagement with said knob, said supporting part of the section being gradually curved toward a predetermined point to allow the knob and the article to automatically move to the predetermined point and to normal position of the article in the rack when the article is dropped into the rack, said curved part also acting to resist an outward movement of the article while said knob remains in contact with said curved part.

2. In a rack constructed to receive and hold cooking utensil covers, a series of joined sections, each section being constructed to have an outer portion and a back portion, said outer portion having the top part thereof curved gradually downwardly toward its center, said curved top part adapted to receive a knob afiixed to a cover and to thereby support said cover through said knob.

3. In a rack constructed to receive and hold cooking utensil covers, a series of joined sections each section being constructed to have an outer portion and a back portion, said outer portion having the top part thereof curved gradually downwardly toward its center and having ashallow notch formed at the center to permit a knob affixed to a cover to be received therein and to thereby offer resistance to outward movement of said cover while said knob remains in contact with said top part of the section.

4. In a rack constructed to receive and hold cooking utensil covers, a series of flexibly joined sections capable of being nested and of being extended, each of said sections being formed to have an outer and a back portion between which a cover may be supported, said outer portion having the top part thereof curved gradually downward from the edges of said section toward its center and having a shallow notch formed at the center of said top part, said curved top part and said notch being constructed to allow a cover with a knob to automatically roll to the center of said section, said curved part also acts to offer resistance to an outward movement of said cover toward either edge of said section while said knob remains in engagement with said top part.

H OIVARD IV. DIX. 

